Serving Larchmont Village, Hancock Park, and the Greater Wilshire neighborhoods of Los Angeles since 2011.

Mid-City West Community Council Offers $1,000 Neighborhood Purpose Grant…As Other Area NCs Cut Grant Budgets

mcwccheader

The Mid City West Community Council has announced it will be awarding a $1,000 Neighborhood Purposes Grant (NPG) to a deserving community organization in February, 2016. Neighborhood Purposes Grants, available to 501(c)(3) organizations and public schools, are available through Los Angeles’ certified Neighborhood Councils each year, but vary in number and amount, at the discretion of each NC. (Each NC has an annual operating budget of $37,000, and may choose how to allocate that money for things like operating expenses, outreach, events and NPGs).

The MCWCC grant will be awarded to a community improvement project in the Mid City West area, which could be anything from a community garden to a neighborhood event. Applications will be judged on their benefit to the Mid City West community, and the project’s feasibility.  The application period opened on September 21, and will close on October 30.  Applications and instructions are available at midcitywest.org/pages/npg-ad-hoc.asp. Questions, comments and applications can be sent to MCWCC’s  Ad Hoc NPG Committe chair, Mehmet Berker, at [email protected].  The ad hoc committee will select the final candidate for the grant, with final approval coming from the Mid City West Board of Directors in January of 2016. 

The city’s Neighborhood Councils have been offering Neighborhood Purpose Grants for several years now, but interestingly, while MCWCC’s offer this year represents a larger amount than the organization has awarded in the past, two other local NCs, the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council and the Olympic Park Neighborhood Council, which have both awarded multiple grants in past years, have not budgeted for any NPGs this year.

According to Bonnie Strong, vice president of the OPNC and chair of its Outreach Committee, the OPNC has undergone a recent “restructuring” and, as part of that process, suspended its grant program “as we move forward with improving our board.”

And the GWNC, which has in the past awarded approximately $10,000 per year in Neighborhood Purpose Grants, also cut them this year.  According to GWNC Treasurer Patricia Carroll, the work load for the GWNC, an all-volunteer organization, has grown to the point that it needs to hire a paid administrator to help coordinate its meetings, projects, schedules, events and committees, and the money that used to be used for grants has been necessarily diverted to staff for the current year.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Elizabeth Fuller
Elizabeth Fuller
Elizabeth Fuller was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN but has lived in LA since 1991 - with deep roots in both the Sycamore Square and West Adams Heights-Sugar Hill neighborhoods. She spent 10 years with the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, volunteers at Wilshire Crest Elementary School, and has been writing for the Buzz since 2015.

Related Articles

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Calendar

Latest Articles

.printfriendly { padding: 0 0 60px 50px; }